


Burn

by teeandrainbows



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Spacekru feels, Temporary Character Death, The 100 (TV) Season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 02:28:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19053400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teeandrainbows/pseuds/teeandrainbows
Summary: Bellamy wakes up in the lab, only to find that the Lightbournes are planning on injecting Echo with Nightblood as a test.





	Burn

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a few different conversations with my friends in the Bechokru discord

The first thing he noticed was the bright light shining into his barely-cracked-open eyes. Bellamy winced, squinting up at the light, trying to figure out where he was. The last thing he remembered was Murphy and Clarke… no, not Clarke, Josephine - coming into the room where he had been chained up for god knows how long. He had no idea what was going on outside, no idea where Echo was, where Emori and Raven were… he hadn’t even known Murphy was working with Josephine until the two had entered the room together. To his credit, Murphy had looked positively horrified upon noticing him, but the Prime had quickly crossed the room and injected Bellamy with another sedative, knocking him out.

Now he was… somewhere, and as he tried to sit up to get his bearings, Bellamy found he was restrained at his wrists and ankles. He could hear voices, though. They were muffled, he was still coming out of the sedative and his head was still fuzzy, but he could count three or four different voices. One of them was screaming, but he couldn’t make out the words. He tried a different approach, turning his head first to the right. Nothing. Just a steel wall. Then he turned to the left and his heart dropped as his mind cleared.

He knew exactly where he was. The lab. And on the exam chair across the room from him was Echo, fighting her restraints, spitting out curse after curse in Trigedasleng as Russell stood over her. Behind him was Simone, urging the leader of Sanctum to “do what needed to be done”, and off to the side, almost out of Bellamy’s field of vision (he had to twist his neck as far as he could and strain his eyes to see), bearing a slasher smile as she watched with one hand up, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, was Josephine. Bellamy tried to cry out, but his throat wouldn’t work.

Echo’s head was restrained, and there were wires coming off her torso and head. Russell was examining a monitor of some kind, and Bellamy had a brief moment of panic. Were they going to do to her what they did to Clarke? He didn’t know if he would be able to handle Echo staring at him blankly, not knowing who he was. Or worse, the Prime in control doing what Josephine had done, acting just closely enough to Echo but missing things here and there. He didn’t know which would be worse.

Then he remembered. They could only transfer the Primes to nightbloods. So Echo was safe from that torture. Then why did they have her? And better yet, why was he there?

“Bell!” a voice hissed from off to his right. Bellamy froze, and whoever it was spoke again. “Over here!”

He slowly turned his head back, grateful that the Primes seemed to be more interested in Echo at the moment than him (and at the same time horrified), looking at the wall. Hunched over on the floor was Murphy, and Bellamy’s jaw clenched.

“What the hell, Murphy?” he asked, the memory of his friend standing beside Josephine a clear image in his mind. He kept his voice at a whisper, but the anger was obvious in his tone.

Murphy flinched. “I didn’t know she had you,” he admitted, looking anywhere but at Bellamy, although he was also decidedly not looking past Bellamy to where the Primes were still watching Echo. “She told me you left to explore without me. Then the girls showed up and she had me helping her convince them. But they didn’t buy it.”

Bellamy had a brief feeling of pride. Raven, Emori and Echo were all smart in their own right, and of course they had figured out Josephine’s ruse. “So what happened?” he asked, trying to piece together what was going on.

Murphy frowned. “She got me to help her convince Abby that the only way to save Kane was to manufacture nightblood. Then the Primes could transfer his consciousness into someone else…” he trailed off, swallowing hard. Bellamy narrowed his eyes.

“What?”

“They’re testing the synthetic nightblood on Echo. They have a Prime who needs a new body.”

Bellamy’s heart dropped again. Hearing motion behind him, he froze, but it appeared the Lightbournes had been too focused on Echo (a horrifying notion) to notice the whispered conversation.

“And you’re just letting it happen?” he asked, panic written all over his face.

Murphy swallowed again, somehow making himself smaller. “She’s psychotic. If I crossed her…” he trailed off again, and Bellamy groaned.

“So what are you doing now?” he asked, still fully aware of what was happening behind him.

“Getting you out. Raven and Emori are outside. The bitch found out about Madi, so Gaia took her into the woods. Raven thinks if she can get in to Sanctum’s computer systems she can figure out how they’re suppressing the host’s mind and why their version of the chip only has one mind.” Murphy hesitated, glancing beyond Bellamy.

“What about Echo?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Once Raven figures it out, we can save her and Delilah. And Clarke,” Murphy said.

Bellamy felt a lump form in his throat. His worst fears were coming true. He was about to lose Echo. He had already lost Octavia, and his mother long before her. He had lost Clarke. Now he was going to lose Echo. He had thought so much about their future together. About living the rest of his life with Echo at his side. If Raven couldn’t do it… he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the thought. When he opened them again, Murphy was gone, and there were footsteps behind him.

“I thought I saw you moving,” Clarke’s voice rang out behind him, although it was higher pitched and punctuated with a very un-Clarke-like giggle. “Glad to see you’ve joined us. Sorry about your girlfriend, but she’s been poking around too much and we needed a test subject.”

Bellamy realized she hadn’t seen Murphy, so he played dumb. “A test subject? What for?” he asked, tugging at his restraints.

Josephine grinned, walking around him, pausing at his feet and putting her hands on them. “Do you really think I’d spoil the surprise?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Bellamy glared down at her. “Get your hands off of me,” he growled loudly.

“Bellamy?” Echo spoke then, having gone silent for a while. “Is that you?” She started rambling in Trig at top speed, telling him everything Murphy had just said.

“Gag her,” Josephine said to her parents while Echo was speaking. Russell’s wife stepped forward and Bellamy cried out her name.

“Belomi, ai hod--” Echo’s voice cut off abruptly, muffled sounds coming from her side of the room. Bellamy pulled at his restraints roughly, cursing at the Lightbournes, at the Primes, at Sanctum in general.

“Now, where were we?” Josephine chirped, walking back over towards her parents and Echo. Bellamy turned his head to watch, his heart breaking at the sight of Echo stretched out, unable to even move her head.

“We’re ready to inject the Nightblood Serum,” Russell announced. Bellamy watched as Echo grew tense.

“The doctor is still in her cell?” Simone asked. Russell nodded, and Josephine stepped forward.

“And Priya’s still looking for the others. Raven and Emori. A couple of the men are out in the woods looking for Madi and Gaia. We’ll find them,” she said, playing with her hair. “And John’s out there, holding down the fort with Jordan, Nathan and Eric.”

“Stop it with the hair,” Russell told her. Josephine turned away, and Bellamy could see her roll her eyes.

“Let’s just get it over with,” Simone said quickly. The other two Lightbournes nodded and Russell picked up a large syringe, getting it ready.

Bellamy exploded then. “NO!” he shouted, pulling so hard his wrists started to chaf and hurt. He couldn’t move, though, and was forced to watch as Russell positioned the needle. Echo was thrashing as much as she could with her tight restraints, but she couldn’t fend him off. Russell slowly injected Echo with the serum Abby had made, and Bellamy felt his cheeks grow wet with tears.

The worst part was that the worst was yet to come.

Echo’s whole body tensed, and Bellamy screamed out her name, pulling. The three Lightbournes stood around her, as peacefully as though they were gathering for dinner.

Soon, she went still. The heart rate monitor above her, which had been beeping frantically, gave one long steady tone. Bellamy felt his heart break. He felt like he was floating above his own body, looking down. It wasn’t real, right? He was dreaming, right? The denial was so strong he couldn’t even cry.

“Is that supposed to happen?” Simone asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

“Give it a minute. We’ve never used this serum before,” Russell replied.

“At least it’s not one of ours,” Josephine said dismissively. That snapped Bellamy back to reality.

“You’re going to pay,” he growled, lifting his head as much as he could, his eyes filling with tears again. Josephine glanced over her shoulder at him, arching an eyebrow.

“What are you going to do about it? By my count, you’re outnumbered, and that’s even if you managed to get out of those restraints,” she chirped. Bellamy wanted to wipe that smirk off her face. Off Clarke’s face.

Sanctum was going to burn.

Just as he thought that, the door to the lab exploded. In the resulting chaos, Bellamy heard footsteps approaching him.

“I’ve got you,” Emori said, undoing the restraints holding him down. The room was filled with smoke, and Bellamy couldn’t see anything past a couple of feet. He definitely couldn’t see the other side of the room. Emori reached over him, getting his other hand free, and Bellamy sat up. His head spun, and he put his hands over his temples, rubbing them.

“How…?” he started, watching as she undid the restraints at his feet. Once they were free, he swung his legs over the side of the chair.

“John,” Emori answered, offering her shoulder as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. His legs felt weak. He hadn’t been able to stand up since before Josephine had revealed herself to him. He put his arm around Emori’s shoulders. “He got Jordan, Miller and Jackson to help him, since he was supposed to be watching them anyway. Raven and I have been hiding since they got Echo.”

Echo. “They did it. They injected her,” Bellamy choked out, the tears rising again. “She… flatlined.”

He felt Emori tense up next to him. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, glancing up at him. “We were too late…”

Just then, Jackson appeared on his left. “I’ve got him,” he said. Emori nodded, and Bellamy leaned against the doctor for support. “The Lightbournes got away. They took Echo with them,” he said. Bellamy hung his head, swallowing a hard lump in his throat.

“Get him out of here. Raven and Miller?” Emori asked. Jackson nodded. “I’m following.”

Bellamy leaned on Jackson as the doctor helped him out through the opening where the door used to be, glancing back to see Emori heading the opposite direction. His heart felt like it was shattered into a million pieces. Echo was gone, and there was nothing he could have done about it.

“What did they do to you?” Jackson asked, breaking into his thoughts. Bellamy glanced over at him dully, having no energy to respond, and Jackson gestured towards his head.

He hadn’t noticed it before, but now his head was throbbing. Bellamy reached up, feeling a welt on his forehead. He only shrugged, and Jackson nodded slowly.

“I’ll look at it in a bit,” he said, leading him outside and away from the main village. Already, there were people gathered, curious no doubt about the explosion. Soon they came across Jordan, who helped Jackson get Bellamy to a small cave around the back of the mountain.

“The girls were hiding here. No one found them,” Jordan explained, helping Bellamy sit down on a blanket. Bellamy leaned back against a wall, staring straight ahead. He just couldn’t bring himself to care about anything else other than the fact that he had lost Echo. Even if Raven found a way to bring back Delilah and Clarke, Echo was gone. For good. Tears welled up in his eyes again and he turned his head away when Jordan sat down next to him.

They sat in the cave for what seemed like hours. Finally, they heard footsteps. Jackson stood up, picking up a gun Bellamy hadn’t noticed before and aiming it at the entrance.

“It’s us,” Raven hissed, coming around the corner. She had a small cut above her left eye, and was limping more than usual. Murphy was right behind her, holding a small gun.

Bellamy stared at the ground. Raven immediately walked over to him, dropping down at his side as Jordan scrambled to his feet. She put her arm around his shoulders, leaning her head against his.

“I’m so sorry we weren’t faster,” she whispered. Bellamy shook his head, glancing sideways at her.

“I don’t blame you,” he replied.

There were more footsteps, and Emori appeared, her expression hardened. Miller stepped into view next, carrying something… someone in his arms.

“Echo?” Bellamy rose to his feet, running over. He took the limp body from Miller, ignoring the pain in his head, and set her gently on the ground, the tears flowing again.

“Is she…” Raven spoke up, her voice cracking. Bellamy ignored her, brushing Echo’s hair back.

“She’s alive,” Emori said, simply. His head rose, and he glanced over at her in disbelief. “I brought her back.”

Bellamy’s heart rose to his throat and he frantically felt for a pulse. She was right. It was there. Weak, but there. A sob broke out of him and he buried his face in Echo’s hair, holding her. Raven started to cry too, her hand on his shoulder.

Jackson pressed his lips together. “Her body must have had a bad reaction to the nightblood serum…” he said, trailing off. Bellamy ignored him, though. All that mattered was that Echo was there, with him, and there was no sign that the Primes had turned her into a host (he had checked the back of her neck already).

Miller and Jackson took the first watch. After a few minutes, Jordan went to join them, leaving the remaining members of Spacekru alone. Murphy and Emori sat together, while Raven knelt beside Bellamy, rubbing his shoulder. None of them wanted to sleep, not while Echo was still in limbo. They had no way of knowing what the effects of the serum would be, especially after the initial reaction.

Every few minutes, Bellamy would whisper to her. “Come back to me… please… I need you…” When his eyes fell on the bruise forming at the injection site, he felt a pang of anger. Sanctum would pay for what they did.

A few hours into the night, Echo finally stirred. Bellamy had slumped against the wall, exhausted, and Raven had gone to sit with Murphy and Emori, but when Bellamy felt Echo’s fingers move under his hand, he immediately sat up straight. Behind him, he could hear the others sitting up too, but they stayed where they were.

“Echo?” Bellamy whispered, bending down and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. A small moan left her lips, and her eyelids fluttered ever so slightly. He swallowed a lump in his throat, interlacing their fingers. “It’s okay, baby… you’re safe. You’re with me.”

She stirred more, and her eyes slowly opened, staring up at him. He had never seen her looking so weak. Her lips parted, and she let out a shaky breath.

“Bell…” she whispered, the soft look of wonder being replaced by suspicion. “H-ow…”

“Shh,” he said, brushing her hair back. “Our family. They saved us.” He gave her a small smile, kissing her forehead again.

Echo managed a small smile, glancing beyond him at the others. Bellamy shifted so they could move closer, and Raven enveloped Echo in a hug.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered over and over. Murphy’s hand was on Bellamy’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry too,” he murmured. Bellamy shook his head.

“You stood with us, that’s what counts,” he replied, nodding. Murphy nodded back.

Raven and Emori helped Echo into a sitting position and after they each had a moment with Echo, everyone backed off again so Bellamy could settle in next to her.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured, his arm around her shoulder. Echo leaned her head against his shoulder.

“When I heard your voice… they were talking about Kane, and their promise to Abby, and I thought they’d do you next,” she admitted.

Bellamy swallowed. “We won’t let them hurt anyone else,” he said, a little more abruptly than he intended. Across the cave, Raven glanced up and nodded, her eyes meeting his.

Sanctum would burn.

But first, he needed to stay close to Echo.

“Ai hod yu in,” he whispered. She glanced up at him, repeating the sentiment, and for the first time in weeks he felt at ease.


End file.
